This story was originally reported by Shefali Luthra And Barbara Rodriguez by The 19thAnd re -published by the partnership of Rewire News Group with the 19th News Network.
The reported plans of the federal government to link the use of acetaminophen by pregnant people-het painful medicine that is sold under the brand name Tylenol-OMT that a cause of autism could exacerbate their health and have one of the few treatments pregnant people to reduce pain and fever, warn doctors.
“It is not only incorrect to say that Tylenol causes autism, it is really dangerous,” Dr. Bhaskari Burra, an OB-Gyn in Asheville, North Carolina. “If people hesitate to take Tylenol during pregnancy, it is really worrying.”
The claim, reported in the Wall Street JournalIt is expected that it will be included in a report Health and Human Services that has not yet been publicly released. It is the latter in a series of efforts of the department, led by the anti-vaccine-tooreticist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to discourage pregnant people to take medicines whose scientific evidence and medical experts say that health improves.
Researchers have studied acetaminophen-the most common freely available pain and fever medication for pregnant people and the potential impact on the development of the fetus for years. Although some activities in the past have suggested a possible connection between acetaminophen and neurological disorders, more science has refuted that connections. Last year a study in the medical Jama Discovered that there was no connection between taking acetaminophen during pregnancy and autism in children or intellectual disabilities.
“The relationship between Tylenol during pregnancy and autism has not been demonstrated. It is not confirmed in the data,” said Burra. “We have no data to show that Tylenol causes autism.”
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have long recommended that pregnant people can safely use acetaminophen in consultation with their doctor. The organization quickly criticized every possible report that could link the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy with autism.
Since Drugs are not often tested for pregnant peopleAcetaminophen is one of the few drugs that pregnant people can safely use to relieve pain or fever – conditions that, if untreated, can increase the risk of birth defects and premature release. Ibuprofen, another common painkiller, is associated Fetal heart problems And Low amniotic fluidwho can also endanger pregnancies.
“There is advantages for controlling fever. There is advantages for controlling pain,” said Dr. Zoe Taylor, a Washington -based general practitioner who practices primary care, including a focus on addiction and pregnancy. “Not to mention all the other medicines that I worried, RFK Jr. will also rob, which have really important benefits for patients and future children.”
Dr. Mariana Montes, a Chicago -based obstetrician Anesthesiologist, said they are worried that if pregnant people believe they cannot use acetaminophen, they will turn to riskier options for pain management: ibuprofen, who can harm or opiates a pregnancy. Untreated pain can also endanger a pregnancy.
“What they really want is that they think that if the mother suffers, the pregnancy will be the healthiest, and that is not true,” Montes said.
Earlier this summer, A advice panel for the Food and Drug Administration suggested Pregnant people must avoid a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin re -admission inhibitors – drugs including Prozac, Lexapro and Zoloft – claiming that taking them during pregnancy can cause pregnancy loss, birth defects or autism. There is also no evidence that the use of antidepressants in such health results is linking.
Taylor said she meets pregnant patients who are already very concerned about the health of their fetuses about their own well -being. She said that medical professionals use the best science to advise patients on the risks and benefits of all the medicines they can use at the start of their pregnancy or during, including SSRIs.
“We do a lot to help patients understand that in many circumstances on those medicines stay better for them and their baby. So I hate the idea that part of that work can be undone by wrong information,” she said. “There is already a lot of wrong information about Tiktok that we are dealing with, which fights every day – if it comes from the federal government, that is even harder to explain.”
Both medicines can even keep pregnancies healthy. Patients who stop an antidepressant regime abruptly can be the risk of serious self -harm; Their babies can also run a greater risk of premature birth and to develop depression later in life.
Taylor said that although it is important for the federal government and researchers to investigate the causes of autism, it is skeptical about the evidence that will be cited in this coming report. A recent systematic review of Acetaminophen and Autism only summarized earlier studies and was not quantitative.
“I am worried about what this says about the process that happens. It is no longer science and it is no longer an expert review and guidelines. It is like, vibes,” she said. “That is the thing that worries me – an article can come out that happens to come to the desk of one person and it makes a huge deal of something. That is not the way the process should work.”
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